Northern Ireland’s Isaac Price Aiming to Emulate Conor Bradley of Liverpool
It’s exactly two years since Isaac Price left Everton to sign for Belgian big guns Standard Liege – but he still has a desire to outdo a former Merseyside rival. According to reporting from The Irish News, Price is looking to follow in the footsteps of his Northern Ireland international colleague Conor Bradley, who became the first player from NI to win an English Premier League medal since Jonny Evans collected his third with Manchester United in 2013.
The Irish News reports that Price looked on with a mixture of respect and envy as Bradley triumphed with the Anfield Reds, and then saw another international team-mate, Justin Devenny, help Crystal Palace win the FA Cup. As quoted in The Irish News, Price said: “I think you can see [a lift] in both players. You look at Conor, he’s a fantastic player. The sky’s the limit for him really. I’ve played with him since I was 15, 16 and he’s been the same the whole way through.”
For a player like Price, looking at Bradley’s achievements, it’s something that he aspires to do. He wants to go and achieve the things that Bradley has achieved so much already. As The Irish News reports, Price said: “I want to go and achieve more. The same with Justin. He’s had a very successful season. He’s got a lot of minutes for Palace. I think that’s the hardest thing to do as a young player is to break into a first team, especially at a Premier League club. I think they’ve both done that very well.”
All three started in Saturday night’s eventual 2-1 friendly loss away to Denmark but Price feels too little football perhaps cost the visitors in Copenhagen as well as too much for some players, but he was still pleased with the overall performance. As quoted in The Irish News, Price said: “We had a few players, including myself, that hadn’t played a game since the start of May, which is always difficult. But I think we’ve got a squad that we all kept ourselves fit in the time that we were off. I don’t think really that we looked that tired in the game.”
Price, now with West Bromwich Albion in the English Championship, insists he’s ready to finish the season in style at home to Iceland. As The Irish News reports, he said: “With this game there’ll be a different expectation, maybe one to take the initiative in this one. We feel we could have a little bit more of the ball, create a few more chances. We feel like we can go and score some goals and hopefully get a good result.”
The Irish News also reports that Price and his teammates will look to build on their performance against Denmark, despite the loss. As quoted in The Irish News, Price said: “We minimised their chances. I think we were compact as a team, which obviously frustrated them a little bit. But I think sometimes it can be hard at this time of year when you finish the season so early to then come in and play two games where you’ve not played for so long.”
The performance of Northern Ireland’s younger players is certainly something to keep an eye on, as they look to make their mark on the international stage. According to The Irish News, Price and his teammates have a lot to be proud of and will look to build on their recent performances in the coming months.
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